









































Denominational Group Meetings  45

Presbyterian and Reformed 
Librarians
By Sharon Taylor

We met Friday, June 15, 2018 from 5:30-6:30 pm in room Studio One 
at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis. Jim Pakala led and took minutes. 
Present were:

 • Margaret Alkema (Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary)

	 •	 Donna	Campbell	(Westminster Theological	Seminary)

 • Steve Crocco (Yale Divinity School)

 • Virginia Dearborn (Princeton Theological Seminary)

 • Michael Farrell (Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando)

 • Becky Givens (Samford University)

 • Steve Jamieson (Covenant Theological Seminary)

 • David Lachman (Independent Bookseller)

	 •	 Pat	Lachman	(Independent	Bookseller) 

 • Tim Lincoln (Austin Presbyterian Seminary)

 • Gerone Lockhart (Calvin Theological Seminary)

 • Denise Pakala (Covenant Theological Seminary)

 • Jim Pakala (Covenant Theological Seminary)

	 •	 Christopher	Richardson	(Union	Presbyterian	Seminary) 

 • Dora Rowe (Union Presbyterian Seminary)

 • Michelle Spomer (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary)

 • Andrew Stout (Covenant Theological Seminary)

	 •	 Sharon	Taylor	(Independent	Scholar) 

 • Christina Torbert (University of Mississippi)

Jim Pakala noted that our 2017 minutes, despite timely submis-
sion, were omitted from last year’s Proceedings, but ATLA provided  
them later for “tip-in” (our 2014 minutes also somehow had been 
omitted but were printed at the back of the 2015 Proceedings as pages 



46  ANNUAL YEARBOOK

389-391, designated “Errata”). Hopefully the new mode for submitting 
anything for the Proceedings will help. 

Institutional and personal news comprised most of the meet-
ing. The following order of reports this time is by (Presbyterian or 
Reformed) institution alphabetically, followed by reports from attend-
ees in other locations. 

Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is raising money for 
library renovation as the last piece of the capital campaign, Tim  
Lincoln reported. The construction work will begin in 2020 hopefully. 
There is a new M.A. in youth ministry in collaboration with Youth Minis-
try Training based in Nashville, which approached the Seminary with 
the aim of developing a cohort-based, in-ministry model with study at 
Austin three times a term.

Calvin Theological Seminary has just had its accreditation renewed 
by ATS (Association of Theological Schools), Gerone Lockhart reported, 
and	as	of	last	November	he	officially	got	Lugene	Schemper’s	position	
of	Theological	Librarian. There	is	increasing	attention	to	collecting	
works related to World Christianity.

Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary is expecting an ATS visit 
in 2020, Margaret Alkema reported.

The highest enrollment ever was reached in 2017–2018 with 21 
students. The transition to a new principal (president) in 2017–2018 
seems to be going well. The person served as Margaret’s associate 
librarian (a sort of faculty-liaison) and thereby has a good apprecia-
tion and understanding of the library. There are no big changes in the 
library,	which	is	holding	the	course	and	trying	to	deal	with	the	fluctu-
ating	Canadian	dollar	which	significantly	impacts	purchasing	power.

Covenant Theological Seminary’s new Access Services Librarian, 
Andrew Stout, was introduced by his supervisor Steve Jamieson, Asso-
ciate Librarian for Public Services. Andrew has one of Covenant’s M.A. 
degrees as well as a library degree, and came to us from St. Charles 
Community College’s library. He succeeded Christopher Goodman last 
fall after Chris took a managerial position with St. Louis County Library. 
A team from ATS visited last October and one from Higher Learning 
Commission (HLC) came in February. The Nashville site did not come 
to full fruition as envisioned, so the book collection we assembled and 
catalogued remains at Buswell Library but will be unpacked, have a 
room of its own, and begin circulating.



Denominational Group Meetings  47

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, as Michelle Spomer reported, 
is undergoing much change, including a new curriculum in the fall,  
a semester system replacing the term system, and the opening of the 
$12 million renovated library. New spaces of note in the renovated 
library include the Fred Rogers Family Room (which provides a study 
space for library users with children, and includes a children’s book 
collection) and an active learning space (which includes sit-to-stand 
desks, balance chairs, a desk treadmill, and a desk bike).

Princeton Theological Seminary, as reported by Virginia Dearborn, 
is engaging in a comprehensive self-study process as required by ATS 
and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. This is year 
one of a three-year process. 

Staff changes: In January 2018, F. W. “Chip” Dobbs-Allsopp (on  
the faculty since 1999) became the  new James Lenox Librarian, and 
Evelyn Frangakis began as Managing Library Director. Chip is also 
Professor of Old Testament. As of July 1, the Academic Technology 
Librarian and Digital Media Lab Coordinator will be reporting to IT 
instead of the Library. We’re upgrading to Voyager 10 in June 2018. 
We’re also working on a preservation plan (for physical materials, not 
digital) with the help of the Conservation Center for Art and Historic 
Artifacts through funding from an NEH grant. Christine (Chris) 
Schwartz, our Metadata Librarian and XML Database Administrator, 
recently co-authored a new book with Timothy W. Cole and Myung-Ja 
(MJ) K. Han for ALA Editions: Coding with XML for Efficiencies in Cataloging 
and Metadata: Practical Applications of XSD, XSLT, and XQuery (an ALCTS 
Monograph). https://library.ptsem.edu/blog/metadata-librarian-as-
co-author. Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando (Oviedo, FL)
was represented by Michael Farrell. Recently a new campus opened  
in Dallas which offers the Master of Divinity and Master of Arts (Theo-
logical Studies) degrees. Dallas joins campuses in Jackson, Orlando, 
Charlotte, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Houston, New York City, and 
Memphis. RTS–Orlando recently began a new Hybrid Master of Divin-
ity program which has grown quickly, and the library has been adapt-
ing programs to meet the needs of these students.

Union Presbyterian Seminary’s Christopher Richardson, noting 
that both Richmond and Charlotte locations are represented at this  
year’s ATLA Conference, reported that Ann Knox has retired after 30 

https://library.ptsem.edu/blog/metadata-librarian-as-co-author
https://library.ptsem.edu/blog/metadata-librarian-as-co-author


48  ANNUAL YEARBOOK

years of service and Dora Rowe has succeeded her as Instructional 
Services Librarian, Director of the Instructional Resource Center.

The Seminary’s Library has acquired an Atiz BookDrive Mark 2 
scanner at its Richmond location and is using it (along with two other 
scanners)	to	digitize	rare	or	unique	archival	items. 	Paula	Skreslet,	
Reference and Archives Librarian, is leading this work and anticipates 
making	new	digital	collections	available	in	the	near	future.	 

Reclassification	from	Pettee	to	Library	of	Congress	will	take	five	 
or six years, with a part-time person devoted to the project. New  
compact shelving will help logistically. Dora Rowe also reported about 
Union: We have had a Digital Learning Lab for several years now, 
where students, faculty, and staff can explore new technologies before 
implementing them in their classrooms and/or workplaces. We loan 
cameras, laptops, and other technology to current students, faculty, 
and staff as well. We are expanding the Lab to be a Maker Space, of 
which the Lab will be a portion. There is a 3-D printer, a portable 
podcasting studio, and a new “game” that allows users to build basic 
app games for use in their classes or their church religious education 
programs. We have repurposed the light-table that was originally 
used to view slides and negatives to be used as a crafting light-table, 
and we have added a die-cut machine and dies for our students and 
our users from the local church communities. I am responsible for 
teaching information literacy for Union and also the Baptist Theo-
logical Seminary at Richmond. This includes formal in-class sessions 
and also lunch-time classes. Two of the most popular last semester 
were on advanced usage of MS Word and how to record and launch a 
podcast. I plan to offer more, including “lunch-byte” research classes 
focusing on individual elements of ACRL’s Framework. Additionally, I 
offer classes for members of local churches. These include technology 
classes and now will include use of the materials in our Maker Space.  
A children’s collection helps support Children’s Church, Sunday 
School, and other educational opportunities. It is also heavily used 
by our students with families. There is a review site for new titles at 
http://storypath.upsem.edu/.  We have video streaming collections  
(in addition to the videos and DVDs available). For some of these  
we are sole owners, so when we have ILL requests for those we seek 
permission to duplicate (and usually digitize) them. This has resulted 
in	the	original	publisher	requesting	a	copy	of	the	resulting	digital	file	

http://storypath.upsem.edu/


Denominational Group Meetings  49

as well. We have much audio material still in physical formats, some 
even reel-to-reel. Many items are uniquely held, and we are working 
to convert them to digital formats with the aim eventually of making 
those we produced, or for which we can obtain permissions, avail-
able for download. We also have two of the largest audio collections 
of Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich. We sell these on CD with the 
permission of their heirs. Recently, we began offering audiobooks to 
our patrons both on CD and as a streaming service, and this collection 
helps provide access for students with physical and processing disabili-
ties, but we also thereby hope to serve our commuting students. The 
curriculum collection has materials from many denominations. We 
purchase leader & participant materials, Vacation Bible School kits, 
and DVD kits with leader/participant guides, plus games, posters, etc. 
Included are materials for children, teens, adults, seniors, and multi-
generational	classes.	Weeding	and	reclassification	are	in	process	this	
summer,	with	classification	changing	from	arrangement	by	publisher	
to being by theme.

Westminster Theological Seminary, as Donna Campbell reported, 
has some new staff members: Steve McKinzie (Assistant Librarian) 
and Robert McInnes (Archivist & Special Collections Librarian). A new 
Korean DMIN and an online MAC program are being offered.

Other reports:
Yale’s Steve Crocco mentioned his 10:30 a.m. conference session 

the same day titled “Embedding One Library into Another: Lessons 
from the Andover Newton Theological School and Yale Divinity 
School Experience.” Included from Andover Newton were manu-
scripts, such as from Edwards. Also now in progress at Yale is an effort 
(which	includes	working	with	officials	in	CT)	to	broaden	a	$13	million	
endowment that had been designated only for the history of Christian 
missions, so that “World Christianity” is included.   

Becky Givens, who works at Samford University’s library. noted 
that it also houses the Beeson Divinity School holdings, but Samford 
librarians are trying to engage Beeson so as to serve them better. 
This has proven to require ongoing effort, but seems a worthy chal-
lenge. 

David Lachman reported that the antiquarian book business is 
good, with demand exceeding availability. His focus, in addition to  



50  ANNUAL YEARBOOK

Bibles and Presbyterian and Reformed material, includes pre-1700 
Spanish church history.

Sharon Taylor reported enjoying work as a part-time nanny and 
church librarian/archivist at Pittsburgh’s historic Shadyside Presby-
terian Church, where she serves as an elder and works with interna-
tionals.  

Christina Torbert is Presbyterian and serves as Head of Continuing 
Resources at the University of Mississippi Libraries. She reported that 
part of her work is the role of philosophy & religion subject specialist, 
including acquisitions. Although the University’s minor in religion 
was transformed into a major, it may return to the lower status owing 
to enrollment.


	Preface
	committee reports
	Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
	Conference Committee
	Endowment Committee
	Professional Development Committee

	Task Forcereports
	International Theological Librarian Education
	Scholarly Communication

	Interest Group Reports
	Public Services
	Special Collections 
	Technical Services 
	World Religions 

	denominational Group reports
	Anabaptist Mennonite
	Anglican/Episcopal
	Baptist
	Campbell-Stone
	Lutheran 
	Methodist
	Orthodox
	Presbyterian and Reformed Librarians
	Roman Catholic

	memorials
	Officers of ATLA (1947–2018)
	ATLA Organizational Directory (2017–2018)
	ATLA Member Directory (2017–2018)
	historical Annual conferences
	AMENDED AND RESTATED BYLAWS OF AMERICAN THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
	2017 ATS Library Statistics

